As my daddy reminds me even now, “If you don’t exercise your voting right, you have no reason at all to gripe!”

He proudly stood in line this morning with his new voter registration card, following the directions given to him by the election officials on duty.  He carefully completed his ballot and submitted the paper into the machine, listening and watching for its final validation.  He quickly affixed his “I Voted” sticker to his sweater and made his way outside, shaking hands, enjoying the attention, and thanking everyone in our path back to the car (including candidates outside the polls).  He told the gals at one of our favorite local lunch spots to “be sure and vote; your vote is needed.”  He talked during lunch about times he remembered going to the polls with mom, taking me and my sis with them so we could participate as bystanders until the first time we each officially voted.  You see, even in his compromised cognitive state, the need to vote is deeply ingrained in dad.  His parents were part of the greatest generation who lived through the great depression and two world wars, raising and teaching him by example how important it is to invest in the community, the state, the country, and our world.  Voting is an important part of that investment; I’m grateful dad continues to actively demonstrated this at each opportunity.  More importantly, he was given several minutes of attention today to encourage those around him to exercise their own chance to vote. 🙂

Day #11 Question (dedicated on dad’s behalf):  If you had the attention of the world around you for 30 seconds, what would you choose to say?

We may each be just one voice, but in the USA, we are given the opportunity at each election to make our voice heard.  Regardless of your politics, your stance, or your opinion, voting is a response dad and I both gratefully embrace.  Here’s hoping you exercise your opportunity to VOTE, too!